Smooth
by Beatrice Otter
Summary: What Rodney didn't notice at the time. Mensa AU, spoilers for McKay and Mrs. Miller.


It took Rod almost a week after returning home to his own Atlantis to figure out what it was that had bothered him. It was a sensation he was way too familiar with; he'd spent most of his life trying to figure out how to read the clues of inflection and body language that everybody else seemed to pick up automatically. He'd decided at a young age that he didn't like being on the outside looking in, and had applied himself to the study of Human behavior with almost as much effort as he'd put into physics and computer systems, though people were usually a lot harder to figure out. He'd gotten pretty good at it, he thought, though he still didn't always quite get all the connections until after the fact.

It clicked while John was ragging on him about not spotting the harmonic feedback loop in the power-regulation system until John pointed it out.

"Huh," he said.

"Yeah, Rod," John said, slouched back on the bench, left hand tangled in Teyla's hair, "that's what I've been telling you all along." He grinned. "Your physics expertise is no match for my combination of math mojo and common sense." He tossed a piece of fruit rind left over from dinner at the team's other scientist.

"No, actually, I was thinking about something else," Rod said smoothly, ignoring the temptation to fire back. "Your counterpart on the other Atlantis." He remembered joking with the alternate team in the mess hall, John and Teyla next to each other as always, a lot like now. Except there was never less than a foot of space between the two counterparts.

"What, the jock?" John snorted. "Whatever it is, it's not going to get you out of admitting that I saved Atlantis from being blown into smithereens on your watch."

Right. At worst, given another two weeks of neglect, the loop would have caused that particular power station to blow. "I don't think he was involved with the Teyla of that universe." Which was probably the oddest thing about it, since he'd always thought Teyla and John made the perfect couple, and their counterparts hadn't been _that_ different.

"Yeah, well, we've already established that he was a knuckle-dragger," John replied. "Though I will admit, I hadn't thought he was _that_ stupid."

"I don't think it's surprising," Ronon said. "You've already told us how different everyone was." He looked at the buffet line contemplatively.

Teyla gave a little snort and snuggled in closer to her … well, lover was the closest term English had to the Athosian word that described her relationship with John. The carved benches they'd found on Alaris were one of the little things he'd missed in the other Atlantis; they made the mess hall seem less utilitarian, and he enjoyed watching others cuddle even if he'd never found anyone to cuddle with, himself.

"You have the same genes, obviously, so the raw intelligence must be there," Rod countered with a smile. "After all, he was the military commander of Atlantis, and they wouldn't have done that if he was stupid."

"Use it or lose it," John said with a shrug. "And the military tends to be leery of putting eggheads—even uniformed ones like yours truly—in positions of command. They tend to favor grunts and tight-asses like Summers, particularly for units in harms way."

"He didn't seem like a tight-ass to me," Rod objected, keeping his voice even and easy. His own counterpart wouldn't have bothered, he was sure.

John shrugged. "I don't insist on that interpretation. But I'd bet he hasn't even tried with her because he's trying to impose Air Force non-fraternization regulations on his team, despite the fact that the rest of his team isn't Air Force." He checked his watch. "Now, ordinarily, I think no-frat rules are a very good idea. But given the fact that our team has always been closer than most families, and given that Teyla would so _totally_ kick my ass if she thought I was favoring her or putting her above the mission, it's kind of a moot point."

"Yeah, I see what you're getting at," Rod said. He thought back, to all the times a mission had gone to Hell and only luck, skill, and an iron determination that they would all make it had led them home. He couldn't imagine sex would make more difficult to let the greater good dictate their actions when there was no other way. "Their team dynamic was very different, but I'd say they were pretty close."

"Well, of course I'm right," John said with a smirk and a look that said, aren't I always? He pressed a kiss to the top of Teyla's head. "Sumner's called a meeting for team leaders. I've got to get up to the briefing room."

"The Marines can wait a few minutes to be beaten into humility," Teyla replied. "I'll walk with you." She nodded good-bye to Rod and Ronon and the two sauntered out, arm in arm as always.

Ronon stood and grabbed his plate. Rod watched him head back for seconds, then shook his head and headed back to his lab.

* * *

"John had a pretty good idea about the no-frat thing, I thought," Rod said, parrying Teyla's blows. "But I can't believe he wouldn't recognize the fact that we really _are_ all too close for them to really do much good whether or not there's sex involved."

Teyla ignored him as usual, and he had to stop talking as her attack became more serious. Ten seconds later it was over.

"Oh, now _that_ was a neat trick," Rod said, rubbing his left leg. "You'll have to show me how to do it, I don't think I've seen it before." Wincing, he shoved himself into a sitting position, and from there to his feet. He worked through a portion of his warm-up exercises to ensure that everything was working properly.

Teyla demonstrated the move slowly enough for him to follow it, and he copied her. Conversation ended for a while as Rod focused on the new move, committing it to muscle-memory while the evening sun slanted through the windows. By the time he had it down well enough that he was confident he could practice it on his own, their lesson was almost over and it was time to cool down.

"I just think it's weird that _this_ universe is the one where the two of you are together." Rod bent over at the waist, arms dangling, then came up slowly, stretching out his back muscles. Teyla gave no sign that she was listening, but Rod didn't let it bother him; she almost never did. "I mean, you were a bit more outgoing, but John was far more personable. Our John is my best friend and I love him like a brother, but you have to admit he can be a bit of an asshole at times." Rod stretched out one Achilles tendon and then the other. "The other John could be a little bit snarky, but he didn't have quite the same edge as ours. Definitely not an asshole that I ever saw. He was … smoother, but it wasn't fake or anything, it was just how he was. The kind of guy that gets all the girls, in my experience. Weird." Stretches done, he began walking slowly around the room, paying attention to his heart rate which was slowly returning to normal.

"Perhaps he was too smooth," Teyla said.

Rod looked up at her in surprise to find her fingering an old scar on the outside of her right arm, the one she'd never told anyone how she'd gotten. "Too smooth? Like I said, he was pretty natural about it, not creepy or like he was trying too hard or anything. Can one be too smooth?"

Teyla grabbed her bag and opened the door. "Yes," she said as she left. "One can."


End file.
